Are you one of the many therapists who undervalues their skills and times? Are you getting paid what you are really worth? Are you billing for all your time or are you giving away hours of it without being compensated? Now I am not talking in this instance about therapists who give away some of their time for charitable purposes or even to gain experience. I am talking about therapists who without realising it are being run ragged by some of their customers and clients and are not getting paid a penny for it. If this is you then my therapy marketing sessions concentrate on how to change this behaviour so that you either have more free time or additional income to compensate.
You see if you were a lawyer you would fill out time sheets showing how many billable hours are charged to your various accounts. Every moment in your day would be accounted for and an appropriate invoice would be raised for the customers who used up those hours and minutes. This is how a legal firm makes money and they do it efficiently. They don’t allow their legal teams to spend hours talking to their clients on the phone without charging for it. Their lawyers are not sitting around waiting for clients to show and not billing for that time yet therapists do. Why???
I believe that many therapists bracket themselves as caring people and as such they open themselves up to being taken advantage of. Yes you can be caring but you still need to earn money. The bills and mortgage still need to be paid. Therefore you need to bill for your time and set professional boundaries because you are worth it. That means when it comes to therapy marketing for new business you have do it efficiently and easily otherwise you will find yourself bank account dropping and your energy being sapped.
Perhaps you recognise the following as some of your customers.
1) The client who rings for information but who has no intention of buying – I regularly get clients who call me to discuss hypnosis but who have no interest in buying my time. Perhaps they suffer from anxiety and want reassurance from a professional that they are going to be ok. I have had people ringing me because they want to learn more about hypnosis for their own interests or for course work. I have even had clients who have rung and asked me for a letter so that they can prove to a court that they are intending to do something about a problem without committing to spending a dime!
2) Clients who ask you to call back but are never there – Have you ever had a client who asks you to ring them at a certain time but isn’t there when you call? It is infuriating especially when you have set aside a portion of your evening to give them that call. They then apologise, rebook another time and do the same again.
3) The client who rings you and 10 other Therapists for comparison – They really do want to book a session but they just don’t know who with. They therefore decide to interview every therapist over the phone for hours. In many ways part of their therapy session is being conducted in advance as they question you on how you would handle this or that. They may even call back a number of times to ask for even more details. In some instances you may have spent hours talking to them with nothing to show for it.
4) Contact form enquiries – Particularly the ones who don’t put their phone number but want you to write an essay in a return email about how you will fix their problem. You therefore spend ages constructing a well put together reply and then you never hear from them again.
5) The dreaded no show – Perhaps the most wasteful use of your time is clients who book a session and then never bother to show up. You have perhaps traveled to a destination to meet them which has taken considerable time, hired a room and then found that you are sat there with nobody to see.
There are ways of dealing with all these potential clients simply and easily so that you have more free time or can get on with the process of building your income with other clients. In my therapy marketing mentoring sessions I give you resources to deal with all of these situations and more. I make sure that all of my therapists understand how to create their own boundaries and terms of engagement. Remember you are the person who has the skills that those clients need so never be afraid to ask for payment for your time and effort.